GRAHAM and Kim Parsons, who had waited a month for repairs to be carried out on their new Land Rover Discovery, decided enough was enough on Thursday afternoon and staged a two-and-a-half hour sit-in at their dealership.

Hyams Autos in Malmesbury wanted to keep the new car to make sure repairs to it were safe. But the Parsons and their three children had only had the car since January and wanted it back.

They sat in owner Paul Hyams' office and refused to go until their demands were met. "He thought we were bluffing, but we were sitting there all night until we had our car back," said Mrs Parsons, 30.

"We were definitely going to sit it out. The kids might have had to go to school, but I would have stayed my ground."

A compromise was reached just before 7pm when Mr Hyams agreed to sign a document promising to look at the car on Friday morning. The car was then checked and returned to the Parsons on Friday.

Mr Hyams said he could sympathise but that complicated repairs were carried out by an external contractor, which had been held up by the warranty company. The work had not been scheduled to finish on the day the family came to see him.